


Homecoming

by somethingsomething



Series: Dragons and Drabbles [2]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-29
Updated: 2014-06-29
Packaged: 2018-02-06 15:57:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1863693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingsomething/pseuds/somethingsomething
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Raleigh Becket comes home.  Mako and Danger have differing opinions about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> This absolutely would not have happened without all the love that came from "The Care and Feeding of Dragons", so thank you to everyone who left love on that. This is the third installment.

Mako rides out on a gray gelding to meet Sensei for the last half mile to the Shatterdome.

The New Year has come and gone, and the winter is warmer than most; there are more cold rains than freezing snows. Mako’s boots are splashed with mud by the time she meets Sensei.

“Raleigh Becket,” Sensei says as Mako draws up to their stopped party, “this is Mako Mori. One of our brightest.” There’s a smile and a little pride hidden in those words, and Mako smiles back.

She looks over the man riding a little behind Sensei. Becket looks more like a farmer than part of the team that once took down a kaiju with a length of chain from the shipping docks.

“He is not what I was expecting,” she tells Sensei in her old tongue. It’s not rude, per se, and it is true, just not something Becket should hear.

Sensei tilts his head in consideration and opens his mouth to say – 

“Better or worse?” Becket asks in the same tongue with a smile on his face.

Mako’s surprised, and a little pleased. Maybe he won’t be such a long shot after all.

\---

The Marshal shows Becket around the Shatterdome, pointing out Hu, Jin, and Cheung Wei and Crimson Typhoon, a great serpentine of a dragon with his third wing. Sasha and Aleksis Kaidonovsky walk down a side hall of the dragon keep beside Cherno Alpha, a mountain of a dragoness. Last is Herc and Chuck Hansen, Striker smaller than the others, but faster than lightning.

Max stands at attention, quivering to race across the dragon keep, but staying until Herc says, “Go on ya mutt,” with a smile. Herc follows at a slower pace.

Mako drops to her knees forty paces from Striker to pet Max. Herc smiles at her, warm and open, and turns to the Marshal. His face is more private, Becket probably not even registering the expression, as Herc says, “Sees a pretty girl and can’t help himself.”

Stacker returns the small, just-for-you smile, before it’s back to business.

Mako and Chuck make a point of not looking at each other.

\---

After, Herc and the Marshal go to talk to the Doctors Gottlieb and Geiszler, and Mako takes Becket to Danger. They leave his bags in the Great Hall to be taken his quarters; it’s not a short walk, and Becket has a bad left arm.

“How is she?” Becket asks after the gates have closed behind them. Mako looks ahead for a long moment.

“She is doing well,” she says. “She has full vision in both eyes, though we were not sure with the scarring above the right. The left wing also has significant scarring, though the membrane is flexible. She can fly as well as before, though extensive battle maneuvers have not been practiced since you and your brother flew with her. She bears the weight of the saddle and at least one rider with no complaint.”

Mako can see Becket looking at her out of the corner of her eye, his eyebrow raised in more than a little surprise. “She let someone ride her?” he asks.

Mako nods. “Dragons make their own rules,” she says. “Danger is no exception, and changes them as she wishes.”

Becket winces. “Danger?”

Mako turns to look at Becket. “She usually refers to you and your brother as her nestlings.”

They’ve stopped on the path by now. Becket sighs and shoves his hands in the pockets of his trousers. They’re workmen’s clothes, soiled and worn with a tear at the seam near his right knee. It’s been a long time since Becket’s ridden a horse, let alone a dragon.

Becket looks towards the tree line. “Well, she’s either going to gut me or roast me, so we might as well keep going.”

Mako studies him for another minute before setting off again. She wonders why he doesn’t make any excuses for his absence.

\---

The clearing is empty when they walk into it. Mako stays within a few feet of the tree line, but Becket walks into the clearing’s center. He turns in a slow circle, studying what has become a nest for Danger. She never took well to the dragon keep, only staying in during the worst of the snows and storms.

“I can see why she’d like it out here,” he says. “You can probably see all the stars at night. We would –”

Danger leaps down from a tree, pinning Becket beneath a paw. Mako doesn’t know if it’s a credit to Becket when he doesn’t struggle, or if she should fear for his self-preservation instincts. When Danger bends her face inches above Becket’s and roars branches weak from rain down from the trees, Mako takes a step forward.

Becket raises a hand palm up to Danger once she’s quiet. Neither of them move, and Mako starts to wonder if maybe she should’ve brought a scarf after all, the cold finally working it’s way between her clothes.

Finally, Danger snorts, loud and angry and derisive, and drops her snout into Becket’s hand. She backs up immediately after, twenty paces between her and Becket. Danger looks at Mako. “You should have told me,” she says.

Mako crosses her arms to tuck her hands between her arms and chest. “I did not know how, or even when or if he would arrive. In the end, I thought that this would be the best way.”

Danger snorts and flames flicker from the corners of her mouth. She lowers her head to look Becket in the eye. “I should roast you where you stand,” she says, words hot with intent and the beginnings of fire.

“I know,” Becket says. “Part of me thinks you should.”

Danger rocks back and then forward. She swallows twice before she says, “I am glad you aren’t dead, though you haven’t gotten any better at dressing yourself.”

Becket smiles, small and a little watery, though it’s too far for Mako to see clearly. “Danger, huh?” he finally asks, and his voice sounds thick.

Danger stretches her neck out a little closer. “It seemed fitting,” she said. Dragons can’t cry, but she sounds close to it. “You were still alive, somewhere, so your name should still be alive.”

Becket huffs a breath that’s somewhere between a laughter and tears. “And nestlings?”

Danger walks until she’s close enough to curl her neck in a half-moon around Becket. “I raised the two of you as much as you raised me,” she says.

Raleigh does laugh at that, though it’s short lived. He rests a hand on Danger’s head and says, “I shouldn’t have left you, even if we were as good as dead. Can I ask for your forgiveness?”

“No,” Danger says. Becket drops his hand. “You had it years ago, from the moment I flew again. Trust may be another thing, though.”

Becket smiles again. He drops his forehead against Danger’s and says, “I can work with that, if you’re willing.”

Danger closes her eyes and hums. “You always were hard to resist,” she says. Becket laughs with a hint of real joy at that.

Mako turns and makes her way back the Shatterdome, leaving Danger and Raleigh for the moment. She can always come back to call them for dinner.

\---

Mako goes to Sensei’s office when she returns to the Shatterdome. She knocks and enters when he gives permission.

“Sensei,” she says, bowing. He stands and bows back. “Mori-san,” he says. “How did Danger receive Mr. Becket?”

Mako looks at the carpet in front of Sensei’s desk and smiles, just a little. She looks up at Sensei and says, “Dragons don’t always require such ceremony after all.”

Sensei smiles because laughter is a luxury these days, but it feels the same.

**Author's Note:**

> Have a thought? I'd love to hear it! Alternatively, you can always talk to me [here](http://bloglikejaeger.tumblr.com).


End file.
